I am a mom of a cutie pie (very biased). And I wanted to share my experiences with others (including my cuties grandparents, great-grandparents, numerous uncles and other relatives). I love being a mom and can't imagine doing anything else.

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Day 0....Transplant

The post you have all been waiting for. The transplant went well. No throwing up during and only once after, no fevers, no breathing problems. Her blood pressure did go up a bit after (154 over 105 for the nurses) but came down after some time. She didn't really like the actual transplant because the preservative they use to store the cells comes out of your body through your lungs and it makes your mouth taste bad (the doc said an older patient described it as a peice of garlic hanging in the back of the throat. not pleasant)The whole day started at a quarter to 8 with vitals and such. It seemed like constant action till the actual transplant at 11:30. Lots of testing equipment, calculating meds, getting pre-medications, have the EKG leads put on, trying to make her keep the oxygen monitor on her finger, blood pressures every 15 min and so on. Then at 11:30 everyone came in and the person from the blood bank arrived with the cells. They are still frozen and defrosted in the room. Here is a picture of Alivia all hooked up and ready to go.

And here is a picture of the cells being defrosted. Yea that is all it is. Crazy.

Then Dr. Ungar got the cells ready and told Dr. Martin (the resident who actually pushed the cells in...this was his first transplant) what to do. They they hooked the tube of cells onto one of her lines and pushed them in over 10 min. Here are two pictures.

She started to cry pretty soon after it started because of the taste in her mouth but quickly got used to it and just sat and watched Elmo in Grouchland the rest of the time (the portable DVD player was a life saver..thanks Mike and Joanne)

Here is Livi with Karli giving the thumbs up. Karli was our very first nurse when we came in almost a year ago and it was so cool that she did our transplant too.

The rest of the day Alivia was a bit out of sorts and wanted me to be with her at all times. I got out of the room to go to eat around 3 when she finally took a nap. Then I got a nap too. She slept for close to 4 hours. I think the day was just a bit overwhelming and stressful for her. I know it was for me. I'm so thankful that she had no adverse side affects during the transplant. That is not the norm and everyone keeps telling us how good she is doing. We are praying that continues. As our transplant doc says "we want boring". Being bored means nothing is bad is happening. So bored is good...

Thanks for cards or pictures from the following people.the Lititz caregroup...your costumes where hilarious. Oh wait...those aren't costumes. (just kidding)Aunt Kathy for the sweet card (Livi loves the fruit with bugs in it. She wants to scare everyone with it. and today she played with all the hats you made. Thanks)The Eckman family. IASD Admin office....you are setting the bar high for the costume competition. These are the folks to beat right now. Alivia kept going over to it and pointing to the funny noses. Deb...she was pretty excited that you were doing thumbs up. It took my dad a while to figure out who the clown was (good work!!). Dad liked what you did with your hair Don...didn't know he had been gone long enough for it to grow like that.

44 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Praise the Lord! We are all so thrilled that things are going so well!! You are with us constantly! Wish we could do something, please let us know if there's anything you need, Our pictures will be on the way soon(ran out of printer ink). We love you all so much, you are all amazing! Livies been a real trooper! Hugs & kisses to all of you, Love you, The Pete's

I was hoping to see your post say what it did. Thank you God things went so well and praying that they will continue to go well.Thanks for the pictures of the process it's quite amazing how it all works.

Whoo hoo....so happy it went well....we wish you continued good news! She is such a darling! Will pray for Alivia's good health and you and your families' continued strengh....... Hope Gigi is feeling better too....Our love,Lynne and Denny

Everyone here is so glad to hear the great news and we can definitely pray for a boring time. Boring also many time leads to sleeping so we will also pray that you guys can catch up on some zzzzz's while you are so bored. I am also so grateful to God that he even supplied you with a familiar nurse there. It's those little details that show how much God cares about Livi and you all. And we do too. xoxoxoxox pw

I am sitting here with tears streaming dowm my face - just so delighted that everything went so smoothly. Thank you, God! Will continue praying. This is a great start to Alivia's "new life"! (By the way, some photos are in the mail to you too. Hope they will bring a smile.)Cathy S.

Praising, praising, praising! You will never know the extent of prayers from here yesterday. I expect many calling me today to ask about Livi. Am so grateful that all went well. Livi may never like garlic, but that is no big deal. Love you the mostest!

I am sitting here with a total 'beyond belief' feeling reading through your transplant day!! Praise God!! Your little girl is amazing, Emily and James!! She is sooooo cute taking all these medical procedures like a real champ!! I am sooo proud of her, and you Emily, for keeping us all abreast to her progress. It is easy to pray when she is so close to our hearts. We love you, even down here in Alabama. FAB and FUD

just want to let you know that we are praying for you guys. last night at our caregroup they went around asking if anyone had prayer request... and of course there were a few weird ones and some serious one.. ok well i'll spare the details bout the weird ones an so on ha ha but we do have some interesting friends in our group...my point is.. i told them bout livi an the transplant. and we all prayed for her an for you guys.. just want to let you know that you are being prayed for by people who don even know you but, but god is working through them because he loves you guys and baby livi so much. love you guys so much ~Neil

So, so, so glad that things are going to well with Livi! Praying for more of the same, as well as for grafting to happen better than expected!! Huge sighs of releif that things are boring (although it doesn't really sound like yesterday was really that boring!!) Even boring days in the hospital are exhausting. That's always amazing to me...how tired you can be after a day of little. :) Hope you are finding peaceful rest whenever possible!

Go Livi, go!!! I, too, checked the blog every 5 minutes yesterday waiting to hear the great news! I woke up at 2:45 am this morning and HAD to run to the computer to check. Glad I did because it sounds like so far she's sailing!!! She is truly the cutest little girl I've ever seen (I can say that, I have 2 boys), especially playing doctor with her fun Sesame Street stuff! We'll be praying for things to continue this way, and for some rest for both of you! With love,Julie D.

Praise the Lord!!! Isn't God amazing, He has answered so many prayers! Thank you so much for the pictures, I'm not much of a medical person, so the pics give much understanding. We will continue to pray that "things stay boring". Emily I continue to pray for you, that God would give you strength and abundant grace to walk through all of this, to be all your little girl needs you to be right now - much honor and respect goes to you.Dawn Mellinger

Faith looks up and faith looks back. We've all been looking up. Now as this chapter closes we can look back on it to encourage our faith for the recovery time ahead as we continue to look up to God for a supernaturally boring recovery.

These are pictures of Amazing Grace!! Wow..I just sat and cried at the thought of new life being given to Livi! Amazing...and absolutely amazing how well she is doing with all of this. God has made her so strong and clearly has His hand firmly upon her. Seeing these pictures and hearing about your experience just makes me love the Lord more. This is only a part of the good He's bringing about in this.

Praise God!!! We are so excited to see that all went well! We will continue to pray for a brand new, perfect immune system. Thanks so much for posting the pictures and letting us know how God has worked so mightily in Alivia's body! We know he will continue! Blessings to you all,The Calvettis

I have to admit I was afraid to come on to check out how it went..and am so glad that our God is soooooooo big, even when our faith is small. So many people caring for Livi in those pictures!! She is so cute with Grover! Praying that boring is the title of your next several entries!!

Thank you Lord for your gentle hand upon Alivia! How amazing it is to see God work in ways that are so beyond us! The photos were great, thanks for letting us be "in on it". Livi's looking so big. Weren't we just waiting for our babies to be born?

Praise his holy name! What a blessing Alivia is! We have been and will continue to pray here in Uniontown Pa and also in Morgantown, WV. Read your entries and are amazed by your unshakable faith! What an example you are for all! Kisses to your angel. In him, The Breakiron's ( Jessica Bennett's future in laws)

Oh Emily! Tears of joy fill our eyes as we behold the goodness of the Lord! Alivia is doing such an amazing job--far better than any adult would. And you my dear, are one astounding mother. Our prayers will not cease.LoveThe Planks

Congratulations on getting through the transplant. We knew that Alivia would get through it with flying colors. She looks like such a doll. We'll be praying for boring days. Yay for boring. No news is good news.

Oh, Emily!What a blog entry!Praise God; He is sooooooooo good to us!Yeah, every year when I see my oncologist, he'll ask me how things are and I always say, "Nice and boring just the way I like them!", so boring sounds good to me!Will continue to pray that all goes GREAT!

Yipeeeee! Sounds like things went as well as could be. I am so proud of Livi and will continue to pray for all of you. You truly bless my day each time I read your blog. You have a beautiful daughter and pray that God continues to bless her treatment and recovery.

Your Canadian friend is cheering for all of you! Each time I read your blog I am reminded what a faithful and loving Heavenly Father we have. God Bless you Livi! She truly looks like such a trooper in all of her pictures!

God truly does answer prayers and I will continue to lift Alivia up to Him and pray for more "boring" days. Tonight at Mass I asked that yesterday be the first day of the rest of her life!!! (I am a friend and co-worker of Mike Gerhard and have been praying for you all since we first learned the news!! I will continue to pray for all of you!!! Vicki Moore)

Dear folks,May the Lord continue to bring you such awesome news! May the LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance[a] upon you and give you peace. (Numbers 6:24-26.)Love,Ben, Maria, Julie, Benjy and Rachel Krothe

I am a mom of a cutie pie (very biased). And I wanted to share my experiences with others (including my cuties grandparents, great-grandparents, numerous uncles and other relatives). I love being a mom and can't imagine doing anything else.